One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest debuts
On this day in 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest a film about a group of patients at a mental institution opens in theaters.Directed by Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey the film starred Jack Nicholson and was co-produced by the actor Michael Douglas.One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest went on to become the first film in four decades to win in all five of the major Academy Award categories Best Actor (Nicholson) Best Actress (Louise Fletcher who played Nurse Ratched) Best Director Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Picture.One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest marked Jack Nicholsons first Oscar win although the actor who was born April 22 1937 in Neptune New Jersey had already received four other Academy Award nominations by that time.
Nicholsons first nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category came for his performance as an alcoholic lawyer in 1969s Easy Rider co-starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda.He earned his next Oscar nomination for Best Actor for 1970s Five Easy Pieces in which he played a drifter.For 1973s The Last Detail Nicholson earned another Best Actor Oscar nomination.
His fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination came for his performance as Detective Jake Gittes in director Roman Polanskis Chinatown (1974).In One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest Nicholson played Randle McMurphy a convict who pretends to be crazy so he can be sent to a mental institution and avoid prison work detail.Once at the asylum McMurphy encounters a varied cast of inmates and clashes memorably with the authoritative Nurse Ratched.During the 1980s Nicholson known for his charisma and devilish grin appeared in such films as Stanley Kubricks The Shining (1980) which was based on a Stephen King horror novel The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) with Jessica Lange Reds (1981) which was directed by Warren Beatty and earned Nicholson another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination Terms of Endearment (1983) for which he collected a second Best Actor Oscar Prizzis Honor (1985) for which he received another Best Actor Oscar nomination The Witches of Eastwick (1987) with Cher Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer Ironweed (1987) for which he took home yet another Best Actor Academy Award nomination and Batman (1989) in which he portrayed the villainous Joker.Nicholsons prolific film work in the 1990s included The Two Jakes (1990) a sequel to Chinatown directed by Nicholson himself the biopic Hoffa (1992) and A Few Good Men (1992) for which he earned another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
A Few Good Men features Tom Cruise and Demi Moore and includes the now-famous Nicholson line You cant handle the truth.Nicholson won his third Best Actor Oscar for 1997s As Good as it Gets which co-stars Helen Hunt and earned his 12th Academy Award nomination for his performance in 2002s About Schmidt.The iconic actors more recent film credits include Somethings Gotta Give (2003) with Diane Keaton and The Departed (2006) directed by Martin Scorsese.
